


Singing Hymns in Hell

by Sin_of_the_Fallen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Medical Procedures, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 03:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17521565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sin_of_the_Fallen/pseuds/Sin_of_the_Fallen
Summary: It is the damned who believe most fervently in salvation and redemption.





	Singing Hymns in Hell

The first thing he thinks is, _The headache…it’s gone?_ The second is, as he tries to open his eyes, _Why is it so dark?_

“Oh, you’re awake huh? You sure do metabolize this one quickly. Not as quickly as the Galra standard issue stuff but the structure must be a little too close-”

“ _Lance_? Wha- What is going on Lance? Why is it so dark?” He asks quickly, trying to keep a lid on the way his heart is starting to pound in spite of the anxiety mounting by feeling as weak as a kitten. Something is wrong; very wrong. Why was Lance so calm if they were in total darkness, and what was he talking about? His voice even sounds a little muffled like he’s wearing something over his face, but not the Paladin helmet because he _knows_ what those sound like.

“This never gets easier does it…Uh, so, I’m just gonna rip the bandaid off okay?” Even in this blackness he could see the way Lance always does that tiny awkward shuffle before pasting a smile on with shoulders too tight to be natural. “I took your eyes.”

A ringing started in his ears, and he could feel his mind slip into a hell of white noise as Lance chattered on while moving something like this- Like this was funny or something!

“You see, I died. Like you, but not you because as it turned out you’re a clone! Nothing wrong with that, but you are. And, I maybe sorta died because of the whole clone thing. Still not judging! But. Yeah. You’re a clone made by Haggar.

“She can see through your eyes, possess you, and morph your body to some degree. Doesn’t matter where she is, so long as she’s linked up with you! It’s kinda impressive – horrifying, really – but it’s still impressive in the fact I’ve died a _lot_ thanks to all the little traps she’s got in you.”

He listened to this mad rambling in silence, the whine of the white noise fading as it felt like part of his heart had been obliterated. Lance…He’d gone mad. Insane and delusional, and he’d never noticed a single sign. Now he was alone here, with the wreck of the person who he’d trusted with-

“Lance… _Listen_ to yourself. You’ve got to let me go. You need help, **I** need help if you’re not…”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, cause I’m going to _save you_. Well, eventually I’m going to save you. Sorry I’m the one you’re stuck with man. I’m not the genius Pidge, Hunk, or even Allura is with tech or magic. But I’m the one who’s here, so I’ll figure out it out. I’ll find out how to make it so you don’t have to worry about killing Keith again. Or me, but let’s be honest; you’ve got enough of his memories that Keith’s first place no matter what.”

Grasping at straws he says hoarsely, “This is because you’re _jealous_?”

“What?” He could hear the genuine affront in Lance’s voice; or at least he would have thought it genuine before this nightmare. “I mean, yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll always be a little bitter over Shiro prioritizing Keith but I’m not exactly trying to save Shiro. Keith can handle that if he wants to.”

Lance sighed heavily, “The first time, I was kinda wrecked you know? You died, Shiro possessed your corpse, and I…could hardly breathe some days because you were _dead_ and you were my _friend_.”  

It was like watching the _Silence of the Lambs_ , but he was in the role of Clarice. Trapped behind her eyes, he couldn’t even flinch away as Lance touched his hand with a gloved one.

“I couldn’t even grieve because Shiro was back and you were…forgotten. You were just another one of Haggar’s weapons and you don’t mourn those right? But I _was_ , and _I couldn’t be_.

“I couldn’t stop though, not for long enough. I kept thinking about how, how you refused to pick anything but Paladin for your character. How you were scared about the headaches and everything, and you trusted me with that knowledge. And acting funny after your death? Well, things happened, and Lotor had my intestines spilling on the floor before anyone could stop him. Dunno that they _would_ have stopped him, but they didn’t have the chance. I managed to gouge out his eyes when he came to gloat over my not-quite-corpse though, so I didn’t go out as miserably as I would in the future.”

His hand was tingling, and he thought he could twitch the tip of his finger. He had to keep Lance talking. Or knowing Lance (he didn’t, though, did he?) he would keep going without any prompting.

“Then I woke up. Completely freaked out, started screaming and everything. Allura had me put into, well, it wound up pretty much a padded room in the end cause man, I fucking _lost it_ for a while. It went pretty quickly though since someone shut off the oxygen one day. And the next one is the one I remember best, since I thought it was my second chance to save you. I got you to speak to me in private, because you trusted me enough to listen –really the fact you trusted me at all should have told us in the beginning you weren’t Shiro – and I told you.

“I told you everything, and you were horrified. You wanted us to go see Pidge, Coran, anyone because I was crying and you were afraid I wasn’t as mad as you thought. Then your arm activated, and you plunged it up to your elbow in my gut. I was beyond any help when Haggar released you, because she had gotten your arm trapped in the wall and couldn’t pull it out. So she said the mission was a failure, and then I got to watch you _break_. Couldn’t even tell you it wasn’t your fault cause my diaphragm and lungs were shot.

“I even tried praying to Black while I was fading, since I could still feel your tears falling on my face. I begged Black to tell you, to help you, but in the end…Black didn’t answer. Didn’t really have the chance since Pidge came running at your screams, and she didn’t hesitate. Last thing I heard was her slitting your throat, and feeling the arterial spray on my face.”

God, how long has Lance been like this? How could he have hallucinated this without giving so much as a _sign_? Was there anything that could help him at this point?

“So I got my act together after that, started to try to find out how to save you. Stop the chain of events and all that. But as it turns out, that’s…Really, really, **really** hard. Haggar put 110% into making you, and she’s a diabolical genius. I still don’t know how the quintessence crystal grains in your nerve clusters are possible, let alone functional.”

He…he could feel his body now, clearly. Just a little longer and he’d be able to make a break for it.

“Oh, right, your metabolism. Let’s swap the Space-IV…”

“ _No!_ ” No no no, Lance couldn’t, he was so close!

“I’m better at keeping track of my surroundings while talking now, sorry to disappoint. I’ve gotten killed enough by it to have wised up. So, yeah. No escape this time buddy. Don’t worry though, someone’ll find us eventually and I’ll start again. I won’t fail you.”

**Author's Note:**

> How the time loop started, beyond Lance's death, I didn't go into since it's really not the important bit. This was about Lance and the clone (who Lance can't wait to pick a name for himself once everything's fine.) Never underestimate the power of friendship.


End file.
